Each horse in a sale is assigned a sales number. This number is printed on a sticky tag and stuck on the horse's hip. Hence the term "Hip Number."
Potential buyers often examine horses at the sales agent's barn. In this example a buyer (or buyer's agent) interested in the chestnut Press Card colt would locate Country Life's barn (number 6) and ask a representative to show Hip 586.

Hip Number Sequence: At first glance, there does not seem to be any rationale for the order of horses in a sale.
In most sales, the order is determined alphabetically by the name of the broodmare. To be fair, a letter is drawn by lot to be the starting point for the sale sequence.
In multiple-day sales, horses may first be grouped by quality into the earliest days or sessions.

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